A question of rights

Elaine Craig is one of 15 winners across Canada of a prestigious Trudeau scholarship. (Pearce photo)

ItÕs been 25 years since Queen Elizabeth II sat down to sign her name to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as CanadaÕs then-prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau stood and watched like an overprotective parent, with a smile on his face and a red rose in his lapel.

Since its adoption in 1982, the Charter has undoubtedly changed the legal landscape, but itÕs also created a discourse in this country about human rights that didnÕt exist before.

ÒItÕs had a huge effect as far as TrudeauÕs legacy goes,” says Elaine Craig, a Dalhousie doctoral student. ÒItÕs also had a huge effect on my life.”

Prestigious scholarship

And now the Trudeau legacy has touched her in another way: sheÕs one of 15 recipients across the country to win a prestigious Trudeau scholarship. Created in 2003, the Trudeau Foundation Scholarship program awards doctoral scholarships in the social sciences and humanities. The foundation annually awards up to 15 exceptional students $35,000 per year for three years, plus up to an additional $15,000 annually each to support research-related travel.

The scholarship will fund Ms. CraigÕs research, which will study human rights and why different cultures and religions have not, to date, found significant commonality in their interpretations of human rights principles.

Looking specifically at the Canadian experience through case studies, sheÕll examine how the law accommodates the rights of minorities, and in particular how the law regards disempowered segments of society (for example, women) within specific minority groups.

The issue of distribution of rights within minority groups has received significant legal and media attention in Canada recently. One example includes the B.C. case of a transgender woman who sought to counsel rape victims but was ejected from a womenÕs organization once they discovered she was not born as a biological woman. There have also been several notable cases in Quebec recently: a 11-year-old Muslim girl ejected from a soccer game for wearing a hijab; the central Quebec town of Herouxville adopting a declaration of Ònorms” that tells immigrants how to fit in; and, a Montreal community centre banning men from prenatal classes so Muslim, Sikh and Hindu women can be accommodated.

Huge question

ÒThis is one of those huge, unanswered theoretical questions: ÔHow does the law accommodate differences through the distribution of rights?Õ” says Ms. Craig. The 32-year-old Alberta native graduated from Dalhousie with a law degree in 2004. After articling in Toronto and completing her MasterÕs law degree at Yale University, she returned to Dalhousie a year ago to continue her studies, teach a required course in constitutional law and work with her supervisor, Dr. Ronalda Murphy.

Her first year as a teacher was capped off with a DSU Teaching Award. This fall, sheÕll teach a seminar course in law and sexuality.

ÒIssues of equality and justice definitely hit home for me,” says Ms. Craig. ÒTo me, thatÕs what the law is about. ItÕs about figuring out a set of principals that we can all live by.”